Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Military Service

Additional Information

Her real name is Bridget Fitzpatrick (aka Bride).

Daughter of Matthew Fitzpatrick and Mary Ann Higinton, of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. The memory of stewardess Fitzpatrick is also commemorated. On 14 October, 1942, at 3:21 a.m., the ferry Caribou was hit by a torpedo launched by U-69 25 miles (40 km) from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. She sank in the Cabot Strait in 1,600 feet (488 m) of water with 136 people (crew, passengers and military) in position 47°19'N/59°29'W. The 101 survivors were recovered by the escort ship HMCS Grand-Mère (J258) and landed in North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. This sinking would be Canada's worst maritime tragedy in terms of human lives during the Second World War.

Her body was recovered and landed in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, on 14 October 1942 for identification by relatives and friends. She was transported to the Newfoundland Railway on the 15th and taken to Bay Roberts for burial.

Stewardess Fitzpatrick is also commemorated on a memorial plaque affixed to a new eight sided old-fashioned bandstand in Veteran's Park in Langford, British Columbia. The plaque was unveiled by ex-merchant mariner Tom Osborne and Barbara Duncan on May 19, 2002 as a bugler sounded Reveille. It is believed to be the first war memorial anywhere in the world dedicated to women merchant mariners who died at their posts in the two world wars.

Commemorated on Page 135 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.